friends of mitt romney and who often are on mitt romney's side say they benefit from his administration. even the corporations have to stand up and them what we already know, he's a big liar. >> there's a limit even for them. ari melber gets tonight's last word. "the ed show" is up next. up next, "hardball with chris matthews." good government, good politics. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this, i can't think of a better job than helping the american people defend themselves. fortunately for president obama, that's his job this week. he signed up for it, and now it needs doing. there's no walking away from it, nothing that takes precedence over putting his head and heart into ensuring the absolute best of his ability that people in the northeast part of the country recover and begin to reconstruct from this natural .

>> even though the cha firefighters have been blocked from getting to the fire due to high floodwaters. and as we told you yesterday, a construction crane that

collapsed because of high winds remained dangling there. you see it atop a 74-floor luxury high-rise. the worth of it is new york, new jersey and pennsylvania. right now i want to bring in dylan dreyer. thank you for joining us. i've just run through sort of a brief outline of what's going on. give us a sense of the depth and the duration of what we're facing here, the cleanup and face this catastrophe. >> chris, unfortunately, the duration is going to be the big story because the storm is not over yet. even though conditions are getting better, i'd say just because the winds are calming a little bit and the rain is letting up, the storm is still producing tons of snow back through west virginia. it's producing tons of rain back across portions of pennsylvania into new york state, so now we're going to start getting into more of a river flooding situation. so it's transitioning from a coastal problem into an inland issue, and even out through the great lakes we're seeing winds

now gusting up still near 30 to 40 miles per hour. we're seeing record wave heights on the great lakes region, and it's producing delays at chicago. it's producing delays in cleveland airport. so we are going to see this whole storm system linger over the northeast for a little while now, and the snow that we were seeing in southern ohio, it is starting to basically be isolated to the mountains of west virginia, and that area has already picked up almost 30 inches of snowfall. this storm has so many facets to it. we're still looking at another 3 to 6 inches possible in areas that already have 30 inches and the sheer size of this storm, it's nearly 900 miles in diameter. this is huge to extend from northern new england all the way back into indiana, into eastern kentucky, eastern tennessee. that's the problem with this storm. now, we do still have to focus on the new york city area for tonight's high tide. it won't be as bad as this morning's high tide and especially not as bad as last

night's high tide, but those winds still coming in out of the south, and it's still going to produce a minimal storm surge that could create some flooding. also, we're seeing those wind gusts still in the city up to around 30 miles per hour. my biggest concern for tonight is with all those eastern cities without power, all the neighborhoods without power, temperatures tonight in the new jersey, new york, pennsylvania area will get down into the 30s tonight. so it's going to start getting a little bit exhausting for all the people without power who have the cleanup to do and then deal with the cold nights on top of it. so it is going to be a major concern i think for several days moving into this weekend and the weekend, too. >> devastating report there. thank you, dylan dreyer. now i'm joined by nbc news political director chuck todd and editorial director for "the huffington post" howard fineman. he's also an msnbc analyst. chuck, i want you to start here, tell me -- let's look at the

president. the president visited red cross headquarters this afternoon and promised to help the hard-hit communities cut through the bureaucratic red tape to get assistance. let's watch him here today. >> my instructions to the federal agency has been do not figure out why we can't do something. i want you to figure out how we do something. i want you to cut through red tape. i want you to cut through bureaucracy. there's no excuse for inaction at this point. i want every agency to lean forward and to make sure that we are getting the resources where they need -- where they're needed as quickly as possible. >> well, meanwhile, this afternoon vice president biden was asked about the president's response to the disaster. here is what he had to say. let's take a look. >> look, i've never seen a guy so focused. i mean, he just wants to make sure -- look, the last conversation he said, look, folks, i'm up late at night.

you don't get immediate response from my folks, call me, here is my number. so this is a hands-on deal right now to get everything done. >> chuck todd, back to you. you've covered this president for a long time now. you've really seen how he operates. instead of doing the piecemeal sort of little i can't use the words mickey mouse aspect of politics, here is a grand decision, do the job and hope things will turn out politically okay, but do the job. it seems like that's his commitment. is it? >> yes. look, this is a case where good politics is not playing politics. right? don't look at this, and remember who you're dealing with. you're dealing with a chris christie, a michael bloomberg, and an andy cuomo. these are three guys who are not shy. and if they think the federal government was not helping them, was not being aggressive, they thought the president wasn't on top of this or wasn't doing everything that they thought the federal government could do, don't you think they'd run, not walk to a tv camera and let people know? so you're in a unique situation

here with a hard-hit area, so three very politically savvy, media savvy governors in the most important media market in the world. you don't want to mess this up. so i think this is a case where it's good politics not to play politics and just throw yourself into disaster relief because you're dealing with a high population area that, frankly, you mess this up, the whole world is going to know about it. >> yeah, howard, what's impressive to me is he's going to new jersey today. he went to jersey. we saw the pictures. not to one of those states that we got a little tired covering basically, the so-called swing states. he went to the states in need today. >> he canceled a trip to ohio, which was a swing state, and went to new jersey. i mean, he's going to new jersey. >> going to. >> going to new jersey, excuse me. and that's the right call. there are a few things here. first of all, chuck is right. the best politics is no politics. and also it underscores the role of the government, it underscores the argument that the president makes about the role of government in times of crisis and in times of need in the fact that the states and the private sector, as great as they are and as important as they

are, can't do everything, especially when we're faced with the kind of natural disaster we've seen. this makes his argument about the role of government, the important role that we play through government in helping each other in times of crisis. so that's very important for him. also, don't foet that chris christie, if i can be political for a second in the midst of this, chris christie is the guy who gave the keynote address at the republican convention. and chris christie has nothing but good -- has had nothing so far nothing but good things to say about the president. that's nothing the president needs to talk about. that's nothing any of his aides or advisers or campaign people need to talk about. but it won't go unnoticed as chuck says in this media environment. >> let's look at what governor christie of new jersey had to say today on the "today" show and on "morning joe." let's listen. >> i was on the phone at midnight again last night with the president personally. he has expedited the declaration

of new jersey as a disaster area. the president has been outstanding in this and so have the folks at fema. the president has been all over this and deserves great credit. i have been on the phone with him yesterday personally three times. he gave me his number at the white house and told me to call him if i needed anything, and he absolutely means it. >> that's great. >> it's been very good working with the president and his administration. >> he also responded with annoyance after a fox news personality asked him an overtly political question about mitt romney. let's take a listen. >> is there any possibility that governor romney may go to new jersey to tour some of the damage with you? >> i have no idea nor am i the least bit concerned or interested. >> right. >> i've got a job to do here in new jersey. i have got 2.4 million people out of power. i have got devastation on the shore. i have got floods in the northern part of my state. if you think right now i give a damn about presidential politics, then you don't know me. >> let's talk about that, chuck, and i do believe it. you know, i have been having a big -- we had a big production meeting today talking about the

motives that move people. it's always complicated. when you're in war, you worry about your buddies and you worry about getting through the night achieving your mission. there may be medals down the road but they're not on your mind certainly, i can imagine. any political medals will have to come as afterthoughts. that's my thinking. i am not a naive person. i think they're doing their jobs. your thoughts. >> i do, too. new jersey, this is a hard-hit area. i think this is a guy who has been up all night. hearing about the devastation, hearing about stranded people in atlantic city, hearing about these things, and then, you know, we all know chris christie a little bit, to be asked a political question that's just not in his nature, it's not who he is on this front. look, there would have been a price to pay for him -- again, this goes back to what i said about the president, what's good politics for chris christie is not to think about politics. the minute you start thinking about politics in any of these situations, you get caught. you always get caught at some point. maybe you get caught in front of

a tv camera, maybe you get caught by another lawmaker, maybe you get caught somewhere else, but you get caught and you get punished, and, by the way, it's a big punishment. the downside for even hinting and worrying the least bit about politics in a moment like this, the punishment is bad. it's political -- it can end your political career. i give to you kathleen blanco. >> yeah, and ray nagin. >> well, i think that's true, but i would just observe somebody outside of the emergency situation that mitt romney's closing argument in a lot of swing states has been about how he will be a bipartisan leader in a way that the president hasn't been able to do in congress. that argument is silently indirectly undercut by the teamwork of the president and chris christie right now. that's my only point. not that they have a political motive in doing it. i'm just saying that's the fact of the situation right now. >> yeah, talk about that a bit, chuck, because i have seen some

interesting good relationships developing here between -- you talked about the importance of the media market in new york to the whole country, new york is, of course, the broadcasting center of this country, as well as the commercial center. you have people like -- who are naturally competitive, the mayor of new york is always -- going back to lindsay and rockefeller, always competitive because the fight over funds between the state and the city. and you have bloomberg, one of the best mayors ever probably and you've got andrew cuomo who only has been seen as a great governor so far basically getting -- working in tandem here. you have the president and a guy who wrote the keynote speech for romney working in tandem. i mean, this is -- you've got to be careful about saying anything is god's will, but this is a week that was given to us. we're told as people to cover this story as journalists. these politicians were told to do their jobs this week. >> well, and, again, when you think about the area that was hit and you think about these three personalities and these three politicians, they all have a reputation for, you know, if something is not going right,

they will call out. in fact, sometimes you wonder do they enjoy making members of their own party upset at some point, or they don't mind making enemies if they think it will help them parochially. all three of them have been very effective at doing that sometimes. they're all three very media savvy. so, you know, that's why i think, you know, talk about -- this is more of a high-wire act for the president i think than people realize because he's got three people he's dealing with in the hardest hit areas of new york and new jersey in bloomberg, cuomo, and christie, that if there is the slightest misstep by the federal government, the three of them will jump on it in a second. so it's -- it is the easy call here for the president is to quote, do your job, get on top of this, it's all about that. but a misstep, and, you know, he's in a media market where he's got three aggressive people who would call him on it. >> let's leave it at that. we've never had a better, more uplifting session in "hardball" than we just had.

anyway, chuck todd, thank you, howard. i mean it. nothing nasty. no poison in the water here. thank you, howard, chuck todd. coming up, pants on fire. mary mccarthy once said of her rival, every word she writes is a lie including "and" and "the." well, the same could almost be said of mitt romney and his new tv ads in ohio about who would do more for the auto industry. he or president obama? you see the price of desperation here, dishonesty. and the campaign's response to universal criticism? they just keep running it. also, did climate change have something to do with hurricane sandy? freak storms happen all the time, but this is precisely the kind of event that scientists have been predicting to us for years. and why would an eisenhower endorse a democrat for president? well, susan eisenhower comes here to talk about it. she's endorsing president obama -- again. and let me finish tonight with this question, does anyone really have a grip on who mitt romney is? this is "hardball," the place for politics. [ cheeping ] [ male announcer ] you hear that?

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well, with one week before the election, remember that? remember that? we've got lots of new poll numbers in the presidential race. let's go to the "hardball" scoreboard. we start in florida, of course, where a new cnn poll has mitt romney leading by one point, but a new ppp poll from florida has president obama up by one point. 49%/48%. in ohio a new ppp poll has the president leading by four, 51%/47%. new hampshire, a small state that may play a big role on election night. the new ppp poll has the president up by two there. in north carolina a new poll from elon university, shows the race tied, who would have thought that a few weeks ago finally to oregon, a state president obama won by 17 points in '08. the race is tightening there. it's down to 47%, obama, 41% for romney. we'll be right back. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals.

welcome back to "hardball." we now know this election may very well come down to ohio. and in the last few days, the romney campaign has done some

things even independent observers consider desperate. first came this from mitt romney last thursday in defiance, ohio, about an hour away from toledo. >> i saw a store today, one of the great manufacturers in this state, jeep, now owned by the italians, is thinking of moving all production to china. i will fight for every good job in america. i'm going to fight to make sure trade is fair, and if it's fair, america will win. >> well, it sounds terrible, but it's false. did you hear that, false, what he just said. chrysler which was bought by fiat said it's not taking any jobs from ohioans, it's adding jobs. it also plans on resuming jeep production in china for chinese drivers. in other words, overseas production and overseas sales, not moving jobs from the united states to china. but then comes this whopper of a romney ad. customarily when one of the campaigns launch a commercial, they send us press releases, not this one. this started running unannounced

in ohio and suggests that jobs are moving to china. let's take a look. >> who will do more for the auto industry? not barack obama. fact checkers confirm his attacks on mitt romney are false. the truth? mitt romney has a plan to help the auto industry. he's supported by lee iacocca and "the detroit news." obama took gm and chrysler into bankruptcy and sold chrysler to italians who are going to build jeeps in china. mitt romney will fight for every american job. >> well, they're not backing down, of course. they're also running misleading radio ads on the same topic. in cities like date everybody and toledo. michael steele is the former chairman, an honest chairman of the rnc, and ron reagan is a radio talk show hosts. both of my guests are msnbc political analysts. i want to start with ron. this stuff, you know, weeks ago the romney campaign said we're not going to let this campaign be run by fact checkers. i mean, i have never heard it

said where you just say we don't care if you find out we're lying. lying is a bad word. we don't care if you catch us. we're going to keep doing it. because we're desperate. >> yeah, well, they may be desperate. ohio is going to be the clincher for this election. everybody has been saying it and it's probably true. so mitt romney probably hopes that the truth isn't going to find him in ohio at some point here. he's been a shape shifter his entire political career. this shouldn't surprise us, and yet somehow he's taken it to a new level. the romney campaign attaches itself to untruth like a sexually aroused little dog on a visitor's leg. i mean, it just starts humping away at these lies here. i mean, as you said, he makes the speech where he says that he read something somewhere about jeep going overseas to china. that's pointed out to him that's not true. chrysler points out to him that that's not true. so what does he do? doubles down with a tv ad. that's pointed out that that ad is not true. what does he do? triples down with a radio ad, too. it is just extraordinary, and the question is do ohioans, do americans, does the media

tolerate this level of dishonesty from a presidential candidate? i hope not. >> lee iacocca, by the way, is not going to come on television and endorse that claim. i predict that right now. he's been retired for 20 years. he's not going to back it up. they're misusing -- i think they're exploiting the poor guy. he's been retired for years. to haul his name back because he obviously has a fondness for the romney family name is really exploitive. are the jeeps being produced now in ohio going -- those jobs for american buyers -- i have two jeeps. i have two of them. they're very cheap, okay? i have two of them. you can buy these cars. they're not big ones. all right? okay? >> good american cars. >> these cars are great. one of my kids have one, i have one. now, here's the question, will they continue to be made in ohio? answer, yes. so why are these people running ads saying they're moving them to china? >> i talked to a couple folks related to the campaign about this. they clearly in one sense were kind of walking it back a little bit in terms of how this has

been perceived or read by a lot of folks. >> okay, how do we misread it? and how did we distort it? >> let me make my point. the emphasis is not that these jobs are going to be taken away from ohio or ohioans, but, in fact, they're creating jobs in china when we should be creating jobs here. >> but these are for chinese buyers. these are for chinese people to buy. >> chris, but this is the argument. that's great. for chinese buyers, then make the car here so american workers -- make the car and send it to china if the chinese market wants to buy. why are you doing that? that's -- >> that's not what romney said. >> that's what a lot of companies are doing. you know, with he make the cars here and we ship them elsewhere and they buy them. >> maybe the deal with china is here and we ship them elsewhere and they buy them. >> maybe the deal with china h here and we ship them elsewhere and they buy them. >> maybe the deal with china h here and we ship them elsewhere and they buy them. >> maybe the deal with china he

here and we ship them elsewhere and they buy them. >> maybe the deal with china e here and we ship them elsewhere and they buy them. >> maybe the deal with china is >> maybe the deal with china is they don't want our cars -- >> wait a minute. chris, at a time you need to create -- >> they're doing it. i don't want it to be 2-1. i think you can handle this. this is one you can handle easily. >> i think i'm right, so you talk amongst yourselves. >> don't try that. i gave it to you. >> if romney had meant, gee, we're going to be making a bunch of jeeps for the chinese, maybe we should make them here, that was a point he could have made. he didn't say that. the ads don't imply that. what he said was the jobs that are here now are going to china because he read that somewhere. that was a lie. >> okay. never bring an honest man in to defend a dishonest ad. the obama campaign is up with this response ad. let them pick it up here. let's take a look. >> when the auto industry faced collapse, mitt romney turned his back. even the conservative "detroit news" criticized romney for his wrong-headedness on the bailout, and now after romney's false claim of jeep outsourcing to china, chrysler itself has refuted romney's lie. the truth? jeep is adding jobs in ohio. mitt romney on ohio jobs, wrong then. >> let detroit go bankrupt. >> dishonest now. >> we're all men here, but i

got to get to this other issue of this distortion and dishonesty about abortion rights and now another issue and contention, women's rights and abortion. romney's surrogate and former senator norm coleman was at an event near cleveland, again, ohio, and reassured voters there that and reassured voters there, women voters, of course, that roe v. wade would never be overturned in a romney administration just as the romney campaign is on the airwaves trying to tell women romney doesn't oppose contraception. take a look at both. these are totally dishonest. >> two supreme court choices. roe v. wade wasn't reversed. >> you know, those ads saying mitt romney would ban all abortions and contraception seemed a bit extreme, so i looked into it. turns out romney doesn't oppose contraception at all. in fact, he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of rape, incest, or to save a mother's life. this issue is important to me, but i'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left with. i voted for president obama last time, but we just can't afford

four more years. >> i don't know who that actor is. that woman. i wish i could have talked to her and said no one ever said -- no one on this planet said that romney was going to outlaw contraception. stop fighting a straw man. you're being dishonest to women out there. the issue is whether your insurance policy should cover it and who gets to decide whether it does or not. a legitimate discussion. but to say there's been an accusation, somebody is going to outlaw contraception and birth control which hasn't been outlawed since the '50s, how can you run an ad like that? >> at the beginning of the whole left war argument about the war on women, that was the centerpiece, that the republicans -- >> who? >> that the republicans want to outlaw contraception. >> did a democrat ever accuse romney -- >> quite a few. >> where? >> quite a few, chris. did you miss that debate when they were talking about -- when the church first came up that the republicans and romney -- >> having it provided in your insurance coverage. >> wanted to outlaw -- >> that's not -- >> well, you asked the question

and i answered it. >> you can fight food stamps without fighting food. okay? >> those are the facts. >> it's the difference between -- >> those are the facts. >> it's the difference between saying you don't believe in food stamps and saying you don't believe in food. that's the difference we're talking about here. your thoughts? this other one about norm coleman running around in ohio saying this president if he gets elected isn't going to get rid of roe v. wade. he has sworn he will do it. he says it all the time. your thoughts? >> indeed. he's announced it's a personal goal of his to get rid of roe v. wade. i suppose he could rely on the dodge that he won't do that, it will be the supreme court justices he appoints who ultimately do that, but clearly that's the goal. does anybody in their right mind think that mitt romney isn't going to appoint two, maybe three supreme court justices if he's elected and that those supreme court justices will have as a litmus test for their being nominated, first of all, that they're going to overreturn roe v. wade? >> you're right on three points,

michael is wrong on all three. thank you. >> sorry, michael. >> we gave you a couple deuces. it was just a bad night for you. you had a bad hand. when we return, some of the incredible pictures and reporting from hurricane sandy. look, i grew up on the jersey shore. this is "hardball," the place for politics. those little things still get you. for you, life's about her. but your erectile dysfunction - that could be a question of blood flow. cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be ready anytime the moment's right. you can be more confident in your ability to be ready.

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welcome back to "hardball." well, the recovery from hurricane sandy will be under way for quite a while, of course, but the worst of the storm itself seems to have passed this part of the country. some of the real stars of the past day or so have been our reporters who were in the thick of it bringing us on the ground accounts of what was happening. let's take a look back at what they encountered. >> good evening from point pleasant beach in new jersey. this sand dune about 30 yards wide, about 12 feet tall is what separates the ocean from the town, and it's been deteriorating throughout the day. >> we are beginning to take the worst of hurricane sandy here on

the jersey shore. look at this wave. >> we're getting one heck of a back kick out of this thing. it's like a mule rearing up on its front legs and just letting go because that's the way i feel right now. >> the water continues to come up here at battery park. look at this water. it just continues to roll in. we still have a ways to go until we get to high tide so the water could come up more than it does right now. >> this house hours ago was in fine shape, but the waves have just been relentless just pounding through. >> they have set off a collapse zone. no cars, no pedestrians in this area. >> i'm actually on someone's front steps, but you can see it's sitting in a pile of water here. >> i don't know how much longer we can actually stay out here. >> i don't think we're going to be able to stay in this position much longer. >> not expecting much improvements over the next several hours. my goodness, the wind is just insane. >> i'm cold, i'm miserable, and it doesn't look very good at all. >> i've been on the sand dune for like -- all day, and

suddenly the waves are washing over it. >> again, the streets are flooded. on the other side of the peninsula -- >> the whole uncertainty about what's going on around here, this is not fun at all. i got to tell you. >> most people have gone, but there are still a few stragglers. >> we're actually across the street from the beach and the ocean. >> you can see the water is up to my knees, up to the park benches here. more importantly, a record storm surge. >> that is a metal sign and appropriately it says "body piercing." if that were to fly off and hit us, it would be doing some body piercing. >> if the wind sways this crane, it could snap off and go crashing into one of the buildings. >> my photographer, who is shooting this right now, his name is jimmy muller, was hit by a flying piece of sign. it cut him on the inside of his wrist. it cut his ring finger, i believe it was his ring finger or the one next to his ring finger. he's okay. he's shooting this live shot for

us right now. we taped him up, we had a first aid kit that the company provides. >> rain is coming sideways and i can feel this sand hitting my back. >> another wave. wow. >> well, big tip of the hat to all of them. and thank you for all that great reporting. boy, it's titanic out there. up next, is climate change to blame for hurricane sandy, and we're going to ask this question seriously, and if so, is it time we got serious about it? you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. hello, everybody.

hello, everybody. i'm lynn berry. here's what's happening. the death toll from the still active superstorm sandy has risen to 46 including 18 killed in new york city. officials say new york's jfk international airport will re-open with limited service at 7:00 wednesday morning.

nearby laguardia airport will remain closed. and the new york stock exchange and the nasdaq exchange will re-open for business today after two days with no trading. now we'll send you back to "hardball." welcome back to "hardball." campaigning for president obama today, former president bill clinton made the political link between hurricane sandy and manmade climate change when he referred to mitt romney's stance on climate change in the recent debate. this is gripping. let's listen. >> he ridiculed the president, ridiculed the president for his efforts to fight global warming in economically beneficial ways. he said, oh, you're going to turn back the seas. in my part of america, we would like it if someone could have done that yesterday.

all up and down the east coast there are mayors, many of them republicans, who are being told you got to move these houses back away from the ocean. you got to lift them up. climate change is going to raise the water levels on a permanent basis. if you want your town insured, you have to do this. in the real world, barack obama's policies work better. >> he's unbelievable. anyway, does our extreme weather we're facing right now in the northeast from droughts and wildfires actually across the country, now hurricane sandy, make the case that manmade global warming is not only real but is having an effect. ed markey is the top democrat on the natural resource congress and senior member of the energy and commerce committee. michael oppenheimer is a professor of scientific affairs at princeton university. i want to start with professor oppenheimer. simply put, when you look at hurricane sandy, which is a funny name for something hitting

our beaches and causing such havoc, do you see climate change, manmade climate change in action, in the face? >> this is definitely the kind of thing we expect to see more of in the future, but in addition, while global warming didn't cause hurricane sandy, it almost surely made the impact worse, and that's because sea level has been rising for the last century due to global warming, and when this huge storm came along at high tide with a full moon with this huge fetch of water gathered up over the atlantic ocean, it was pushing on a sea level which was higher than it would otherwise have been, and it was able to push the water further and further inland. i live in downtown manhattan. i saw the damage, and i can tell you that this situation is only going to get worse over this century and over the coming years and decades because global warming will continue to cause sea level to rise and probably cause such storms to become more intense until we reduce the emissions of the greenhouse gases that are causing the problem. >> in the real world, not the parallel universe of the people on the far right, the luddites,

whatever you call them, mayor bloomberg is one of the most practical politicians in the world, he's trying to retrofit the subways thinking about the future and this water level thing, congressman. >> absolutely. this has real world impacts on ordinary people. as the professor just said, the ocean is now much hotter. as a result, it's much higher, and the arctic is melting, and that's changing the jet stream, which would have ordinarily put this storm off to sea. so as a result there is an extreme weather tax now. it's going to be billions and billions of dollars, and while mitt romney is concerned about the koch brothers, the average american right now is worried about global warming, worried about climate change, worried about the impact on their family. >> who are these people, professor, who fight you? who are these people that write op-ed pieces in "the wall street journal" with such assurance that this is all bogus science? who -- are they phonies? are they quacks?

>> there are different motivations. some people don't want to hear about global warming because it's bad news, and there's enough bad news in the world, and everybody has plenty to worry about anyway. some people don't want to hear about it because it gets in the way of their economic interests. those would be the fossil fuel companies, for instance. and some people are just generally skeptical and don't like experts, and, frankly, i don't like experts all the time myself either. but these are the facts. every academy of science of every major country in the world has said this is happening. it's happening now. it's only going to get worse until we start taking actions to stem the emissions that are causing the problem. but in the meantime, this stuff is going to be happening even if we get emissions under control for some time, for decades, so we have to learn how to adapt better, how to prepare for such potential disasters, how to mitigate their damages. >> we don't have any high ground

to go to when we have 6 billion people living on this planet. there's no other planet to go to. but politics is about every two years, every four years. how do you run a political argument that has to be paid off within the next couple years? you have to win the argument. who is willing to vote for somebody who is willing to do something about climate change? >> well, this frames the election for next tuesday very well. it's mother nature versus the koch brothers. >> who are the koch brothers? explain. >> the koch brothers are the singest largest funders of -- >> oil and gas. >> the oil and gas industry, the coal industry. they are funding mitt romney and the republicans across this country. they want romney in because here is what romney is promising. one, he's going to do away with the tax breaks for wind energy but keep it for oil. he is going to do away with the fuel economy standards that increase the efficiency of the vehicles we drive up to 55 miles per gallon backing out 6 billion metric tons of co2, that's what obama wants to do,

back out 3 million barrels of oil per day from the persian gulf, all the oil we import. the koch brothers want romney, and romney has promised to roll back the fuel economy incentives. it's going to endanger the planet, and it's going to endanger young men and women who have to go to the middle east to import the oil. >> professor, back in the '60s we called such people pigs. pigs, no, really. they don't care about the planet, don't care about the destruction of war, all they care about is their stuff, and they want more of it. is that what we're talking about, greed? i'm talking about people who is working in a coal mine. that's hard work. i'm talking about those that won't listen to you or science because they want more stuff? >> listen, chris, i'm not into name calling here. >> well, i am. >> fine, that's your job, not mine. we have a serious job to do. the administration has actually started to put in regulations to reduce emissions. u.s. emissions are actually down modestly. we have a long way to go. we're going to have to do this by all getting together and acting cooperatively. we have to do in our own lives what we can, get those energy efficient appliances and cars. we have to encourage the

government to start passing more -- tighter regulations to reduce emissions, and we have to also be prepared to deal with some of the climate change that's inevitable by better planning and organization around the towns and communities we live in. everybody has to get involved. >> congressman markey, i have known you forever. you're a friend of mine. i watch you fight this fight. i watch the goodwill and the good effort to fight these people, but on the other side of the fight, it's not just always just the other side of the aisle, not always republicans, huge amounts of money being paid to congressmen and women running for re-election that says, hands off. don't push this thing, right? >> well, mitt romney was a climate science believer when he was the governor of massachusetts. no republican can be nominated to run for president of the united states if they say they believe in climate science. having a conversation with that mitt romney would be like having a conversation with an empty chair. that governor that we had, he cannot run. it's a party controlled by these interests that want to kill fuel economy standards, wind, solar,

geothermal, biofuel, all the things that young people in our country know we have to invest in if we are going to avoid the most catastrophic consequences. there is no emergency room for a planet. we have to put in place the preventative measures as the professor just said to protect against that danger. >> someday they'll remember the people that didn't do anything. anyway, thank you, congressman. thank you, professor michael oppenheimer from princeton. speaking of bipartisan, a prominent republican with a famous last name wants to get endorsement of president obama. this is "hardball." think eisenhower republican, remember them? this is the place for politics. e add up to 100 calories? your world. ♪ [ whispers ] real bacon... creamy cheese... 100 calories... [ chef ] ma'am [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

we've got some new senate polling. let's check the "hardball" scoreboard starting in massachusetts where a new suffolk poll shows elizabeth warren with a -- look at that -- a seven-point lead over scott brown. it's warren, 53%. a powerful number. brown, 46%. but a new "boston globe" poll has the race still tied 47-47. in ohio a new "cincinnati enquirer" poll has democratic senator sherrod brown up over josh mandel by 4%. 51/47. boy, that's tight. a sunshine state news poll has democratic senator bill nelson leading connie mack by five. too close for that one, 49%/44%. we'll be right back.

we're back. four years ago susan eisenhower, the granddaughter of dwight eisenhower endorsed president obama and spoke during the democratic national convention. now she's making the case in president obama's reelection. the challenger mitt romney says, "as a result of this campaign i am more confused than ever about what mitt romney stands for. i know little of his core beliefs if he has any. no one seems to agree on what they are and that's why i don't want to take a chance on finding out." i love the way you put that.

is there any belief to determine he will last? he's the cellophane man. is there anything beneath the tie and shirt. is there any belief to determine that will last beyond the current speech? >> that's the problem. he had to run to the extreme right to get the nomination to begin with. now classically candidates move into the middle, but he didn't do that until late in the campaign,. which leads you to believe he was with the ideas he was espousing during the primary. he's made commitments. he's not part of the religious right but he's made commitments to the religious right. he's made all these commitments to them on choice, on everything, on con is session, even on same-sex marriage. he's against everything now it seems. >> they are going to call in those chips too. they try just about every candidate until they ended up with mitt romney. i think the thing that concerns me the most is he's going to

me most is he's going to want a second term and because he's going to want a second term he's going to have to keep the base happy or get a contender. >> so he will stay bought. >> i think that is the really compelling thing about a second term for any president is that all of the politicking you have to do the first time around -- >> put you up. you're a smart lady, of course, i want you put up against someone equally smart. how he would govern and he says "to get re-elected in a country with a rising minority population and a shrinking republican coalition romney's shape-shifting nature would have him govern as a center right moderate. if romney wins we're more likely to get bipartisan reform. romney is more of a flexible flip-flopper than obama.

he's more likely to get big stuff done." well, that's the strangest endorsement, the guy has no backbone, he's our guy. what an amazing statement by david brooks. >> i was going to say what about the shape changing experience. what have we seen in that regard? >> he's never fought -- well, that's the point you're making. at least john mccain stood up to the woman that says he's an arab and bill clinton who was pretty flexible and pretty good politician said, you know, he stood up to cystt ach achlcystt when -- >> he says only mitt romney can make congress cooperate and i think this is a dangerous idea unless one side gets its way they're simply not going to cooperate. i think the public is fed up with this. i think they really want congress to cooperate with the new president no matter who it is. >> by the way, the republicans running for the senate now, this guy mourdock and akin will join

the demint crowd. >> the commitments made earlier in the campaign will come back to haunt governor romney. >> how about julian david -- >> i'm the washington eisenhower -- >> i hope gettysburg can join this team. thank you, great family. susan eisenhower. we'll be right back. you're watching "hardball," the place for politics. ah. fire bad! just have to fire roast these tomatoes. do you churn your own butter too? what? this is going to give you a head start on your dinner. that seems easier sure does who are you? [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. five delicious cooking sauces you combine with fresh ingredients to make amazing home-cooked meals. ♪ ambiance [ female announcer ] new progresso recipe starters. your head-start to home cooked.

let me finish tonight with what susan eisenhower just asked. do you, does anyone have a grip on who mitt romney is? really? is he the moderate pro-choice governor from massachusetts, the guy who gave us the model for obama care or does he hang closely with hawks, signs on with grover norquist, joins with religious right. is he dr. jekyll or mr. hyde, or is he both or neither? jack kennedy once said he felt sorry for his rival richard nixon because he doesn't know who he is and each stop he has to decide which nixon he is at the moment. want to hear a worst case? do you think this guy mr. romney who will service the right wing so sweetly will suddenly have the force of will to betray it? have you seen a single case when romney's broken free from the mob that's brought him this far, a single sista